It wasn't a dial. It had a shifter that looked like a standard one but it didn't move through any detents. I rented one with that thing and you had to look at the dash every time to know what gear it was in. If you were in drive, you had to push it three times to get it into park. It didn't have the physical feedback we were used to at the time. They sucked. It was also slow to respond, so if you pushed it three times quickly, it may or may not be in park.
Everyone involved in that design should have been forced to drive the stupid thing for six months and then fired!